Supreme Court bans sale of BS-III vehicles from Apr 1

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday banned the sale of BS-III vehicles, saying that the health of citizens is more important than the commercial interests of auto manufacturers.

The apex court directed that no BS-III vehicle shall be registered from April 1 and turned down the plea of automobile manufactures to allow them to dispose of 8.2 lakh such vehicles.

The bench of Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta also upbraided auto manufacturers for not taking steps sooner in this regard and then appealing to the SC.

The top court also rejected the central government’s plea which batted for the manufacturing firms and said that its order on BS-IV compliance from April 1 was on manufacturing and not for sale.

On the other hand, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufactures (SIAM), Tata Motors, Honda, Yamaha and the dealers’ body have opposed ban on sale of BS III vehicles after March 31, contending that they would suffer losses by curbs on the registration of their BS III emission norm vehicles.